ARC Book Review: The Glass Arrow – Kristen Simmons

The Handmaid’s Tale meets Blood Red Road in The Glass Arrow, the story of Aya, who lives with a small group of women on the run from the men who hunt them, men who want to auction off breeding rights to the highest bidder.
In a world where females are scarce and are hunted, then bought and sold at market for their breeding rights, 15-year old Aya has learned how to hide. With a ragtag bunch of other women and girls, she has successfully avoided capture and eked out a nomadic but free existence in the mountains. But when Aya’s luck runs out and she’s caught by a group of businessmen on a hunting expedition, fighting to survive takes on a whole new meaning.

First Sentence: Run.My Review:

When I first heard of The Glass Arrow, I immediately need it in my life asap. Not only is the book called The Glass Arrow (emphasis on the “arrow” part of the title), but the cover of the book also has an arrow! (Just in case you don’t know or don’t realize it yet, my biggest weakness are ARROWS. ARCHERS. CROSSBOWS. BOWS. Basically, anything to do with ARROWS.) When I managed to somehow get my hands on an ARC, I was beyond excited and ready to love the book. However, as reviews started pouring in, I found myself worried as it appears that people either love the book to death or don’t like it at all. I hoped that I’ll love The Glass Arrow, because hello, the book appears to be perfect for me, but alas, that sadly didn’t happen because of something called expectations.

The woods are unnaturally silent. I doubt the Trackers have taken the Magnate home…and besides that, they haven’t gotten what they’ve come for. The real trophy.
Me. (ARC 13)

What I expected to happen in The Glass Arrow did not happen. After reading the summary of The Glass Arrow and judging the book by its title, I thought The Glass Arrow would be about male archers riding on horses, chasing after runaway or free women and girls. However, The Glass Arrow turns out to be nothing like that. There were barely any bows and arrows in the book, Aya was trapped in a facility for half of the book, and “the glass arrow” part of the book was insignificant – the “glass arrow” isn’t even an actual arrow. In fact, there was like a total of five arrows in the book.

I also feel like I have to warn you guys about this too: The world in The Glass Arrow is EXTREMELY dark. You can’t have a weak stomach when you read The Glass Arrow. There are constant threats of rape, men act disgustingly, women are treated like objects, and girls happily degrade themselves without realizing it, literally making me sick to the stomach. Things got so bad that the book made me turn to violence – I still want to punch out some characters in the book. The Glass Arrow made me feel that sick.

“Eat.”
“I’m not a dog,” I say.
…
“No talking,” he says. “Bad girl!”
He jams the silver box into my belly and presses the button. It sends a bolt of lightning straight through my insides…For moments after, I’m still twitching. (ARC 179)

Another problem I had with The Glass Arrow is that after reading the entire book, I felt like there wasn’t any point of the book – the bigger picture, aka the issues of the world of The Glass Arrow, wasn’t solved. Nothing in the world was resolved and The Glass Arrow is also a standalone. I thought maybe Aya will start a revolution with the girls to takeover the opposition by the men and change their society for the better or something along those lines. Thinking that wasn’t a far stretch: Aya said something similar to that earlier in the book. However, that never ended up happening.

Overall, The Glass Arrow was sadly a massive disappointment to me. I was expecting something epic with a lot of arrows – hey, you can’t really blame me for thinking that right? Instead, I got something that was extremely dark and almost nothing to do with arrows. Color me disappointed.

Speak Your Mind

Oh bummer. Despite being on a mini vacation I found myself reading your review anyway because I have become curious about this book. I’ve been hearing mostly good things so I was intrigued. Now I feel hesitant. It kind of sounds like it was totally disappointing, especially if there was no satisfying conclusion! And it’s a standalone! Not sure what I will do now myself, will have to do some debating now! Very nice, honest review!Jessica @ a GREAT read recently posted…Top 5 Sundays

Sorry this was such a disappointment to you. I’ve read positive reviews about The Glass Arrow and yours is actually the first negative one I’ve come across. I’d still read this one though, but thank you for your insight. Nice review as always, Kelly. I hope you enjoy your next read more. :)Julie @ Books and Insomnia recently posted…[REVIEW] Hellhole by Gina Damico

Ugh! So sad that this one was not what you expected, I was really excited about it too. I really hate when books have no real point – cause then, what’s the point of reading them?
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

ummm not gonna pick this up any time soon for sure.I happen to enjoy Blood Red Road and still haven’t read the handmaid’s tale. I don’t know if i’m in the mood for something this misogynistic these days. Thanks for this review no matter how disappointing it was for you. I’m currently trying to get back to my reading mood.

It’s sad that there’s no action. This could have been an amazing book with lots of horseback chases and fights. And I’m also tired of revolutions in novels but it sounds like this world could have really used a change.

I hadn’t heard a lot about The Glass Arrow, but now I’m glad I read your review. I don’t get sick to my stomach easily per se, but I do tend to cringe a lot at the most horrible situations. Just from reading your review, I know I’ll be bothered by some of the situations in this story just like you were. I’ll probably wish I could punch out characters like you wanted to, too. Thanks for the honesty Kelly! :D

So sorry you weren’t able to enjoy this one! Especially because of the expectations of there being more arrows included. I read it and managed to love it – I thought it was a good story and although the beginning was slow I felt like it picked up after that. And yes, the world was terribly dark. I wouldn’t even put it past humans to be able to make that world a reality.Olivia recently posted…The Canary Room (Review)

Thanks for the review for The Glass Arrow I am going to grab this book and I have only heard good things about it and see if my feelings are the same or similar to yours or if I feel different about it.. Usually I follow your advise about books and although you have given this one a bad review I still think that I will give it a go especially as I have this one on my to read pile for a while! Thanks for the review even though it has not colored my idea of reading this book.

I’ve never heard of this book before! The synopsis sounds really promising although I’d expect it to be a trilogy or a longer series. I’m sad to see that you didn’t enjoy it all that much but your review did make me curious and I might add it on Goodreads just so I can check it out later.Kaylie @ Potterhead Reviews recently posted…Book Blogger Love-a-thon | questionnaire

I tried a sample of this on Amazon and I despised it. It sounds like the rest of it doesn’t make up for it either. Thanks for the warning! The way you describe the girls being treated is terrible too. I’ll definitely be skipping it!

I was really considering picking this up, but I had mixed feelings because I generally like some romance in my YA and this didn’t seem to have any. I haven’t heard too many good things which is a bummer because it’s a great concept.Amanda recently posted…Review: Wicked by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I´m glad I read your review. I was excited about this book since I first heart about it – I love books with arrows and archers since I read Fire by Kristin Cashore. I feel disappointed that in the book aren´t arrows and archers – the title promised me that :D But I´m still looking forward to read this book, however there won´t be anything what I expected to be in it. Anotation sounds interesting to me, I like the idea about the book story and I now know what I can´t wait from The Glass Arrow so I will not be so disappointed :)

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Effortlessly Reading sometimes receives ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) from publishers or authors in exchange for honest reviews. Please note that no compensation of any kind has been provided in exchange for a review. Any use and/or duplication of my material without any permission is strictly prohibited.